


Don't Lose Your Smile

by xpiester333x



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 00:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7145003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xpiester333x/pseuds/xpiester333x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An insight to the events that occurred on the Steps of Faith during the final battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Lose Your Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Will contain spoilers for the 3.3 patch story line. If you're not okay with that, turn back now.
> 
> Minor mentions of Haurchefant/female WOL. It doesn't really have to be shippy, but it is centered on their relationship in game. Not 100% canonically accurate, I realize, but this is fanfiction, so please forgive my interpretation on things. Please enjoy.

Pain sears through her hands as she tries to prise the eye from Estinien’s armor. Beside her, she can hear Alphinaud screaming and she knows he can feel it too. The feeling of molten metal that makes her skin sizzle as her bare fingers clutch desperately to the eye. She can only imagine the pain Estinien must have been in this whole time, with both eyes so deeply attached to his armor, so tightly intertwined with his being. She wants nothing more than to free him from this hellish prison, from the darkness of the Shade that has consumed him.

Her nails dig deeper as she seeks better purchase on her claim. The eye is slick, perhaps with her own blood, but she will not let go, even as the feeling of hopelessness begins to seize her heart. What if she cannot remove the eye? What if killing Estinien is the only way? She has lost so much already, so many friends. To lose another… can she really be called a hero? She has failed to protect those she cares about most, she has watched them fall before her very eyes. 

She is powerless, she realizes. She cannot protect, she cannot defend. They call her the Warrior of Light. What a fallacy. She is no Warrior, she’s a pathetic pretender bearing a false title. She’s no more real, no more substantial than the Shade that she has just lain low. She is no hero. 

Beside her she can hear Alphinaud whimper and she knows. She will lose Estinien as she has lost them all. She will lose Aymeric, and Alphinaud, and Tataru, and Rauhban… all of those dear friends that have fought so steadfastly by her side. She will lose them just as she lost the others; Minfilia, Ysayle, her dearest friend Haurchefant…

“It is not just physical pain the eye will bring you, my friend.”

The voice in her head sounds remarkably familiar, and chases away the cold doubts that trickle down her back. A warming tingle spreads through her body, staying the burn at her fingers. The feeling is reminiscent of nights spent by a fire, the familiar feeling of another’s touch, his hands always so warm despite the chill. Her heart aches at the feeling, but the ache is sweet and tender. It is not the pain of her failures, nor is it the searing pain of the Shade’s wrath. It is pain tinged with remembrance and love too deep to burn away.

She blinks, for the world doesn’t look the same. It is too bright, too fog covered on the bridge that had just a moment ago been clear of all but the ever present snow. She can no longer see Alphinaud beside her, she is alone now, in this beautiful world of light.

But not alone. A hand comes to rest against hers. It is covered in thick leather and armor, but it’s touch is warm and familiar. She has felt it before, the comfort of that hand on hers, aiding her with comfort and lending her strength any time she needed it. The hand of her dearest friend, her closest companion, fast against her own. 

Her eyes find familiar ice blue. Her throat chokes over his name, too tight to speak. She has so much she wants to say to him, but he silences her with a nod. He understands, as he always has, without her needing to say a word. He smiles to her, an expression so tender on his face that her heart skips a beat in her chest. He nods to her, and squeezes his hand in hers. 

“Don’t let him take your smile.”

His lips don’t move, but she knows. She can hear his words inside her heart. She nods, and smiles to him. It’s a smile only he will ever see. The smile of a hero. 

He nods to her, satisfied. She has not let him down, she never has. She is so strong, so beautiful to him. She cannot ever fail in his eyes. With a final pull, aided by his ever present strength, the eye pops free of its casing.

She can feel the tears well in her eyes as he turns from her. His time with her is too short, she craves more. But she knows he is never really gone. He is a part of her, a piece of her soul now, and he is forever with her. 

She blinks, and the cold snow of Coerthas is settling against her cheeks once more. 

“Cast them into the abyss!” Aymeric’s command echoes against the stone of the bridge. “Quickly!”

Her eyes meet Alphinaud’s, and she nods. Together they sprint for the edge of the bridge. The heat from the eye is searing her fingers again, but she ignores it. It can no longer consume her. She hurls it into the depths below her, hurling with it her self doubts, her feelings of regrets; of failure.

She watches the eyes disappear into the fog below, and her senses return to her. She stands tall on the edge of the Steps, and there are tears in her eyes. Perhaps they are tears of relief for her friend Estinien, or tears from the pain of her injured hands. She wipes at them with one charred sleeve and turns to her friends to celebrate their success.

Sometime later Alphinaud will ask her about the events on the Steps of Faith. He’ll ask her if she remembers anything strange happening that day. If she remembers… something dreamlike.

Her skin will prickle with a tingling warmth. She’ll rub her arm curiously; it feels familiar though she can’t remember why. She’ll think about that day, but her memories seem hazy, almost fractured due to her duress and fatigue. For a moment her mind flashes ice blue, and something grips at her heart. But the broken memory is gone before she can fully grasp it, lost to the ether of her mind. 

“No.” She will say to him. “I don’t.”


End file.
